- Every day the United States generates 200 million tons of trash, or 4.3 pounds per person
- Greenhouse gases are generated by waste decomposing in landfills and typically contributes around 10% of a typical household's total emissions
- The typical household throws out 10-15% of the food it purchases
- The plastic bags from the supermarket take 1000 years to decompose. At least four billion plastic bags a year end up as litter in the US out of the 100 billion used. Moraga estimates that their annual plastic bag consumption is at 4 million per year. (contributed by member)
- Americans use 50 million tons of paper annually - consuming more than 850 million trees.
- Every ton of recycled office paper saves 380 gallons of oil.
- Energy saved from one recycled aluminum can will operate a TV set for three hours, and is the equivalent to half a can of gasoline.
- If just 25% of American families used 10 fewer plastic bags a month, it would save over 2.5 billion bags a year.
- About 1% of US landfill space is full of disposable diapers, which take 500 years to decompose
- Americans produce enough styrofoam cups every year to circle the earth 436 times. These cups are completely non-biodegradable, deplete the Earth's ozone layer, waste enormous amounts of landfill, and are deadly to marine life. Ceramic mugs cost a few dollars.
If you have a great "Did You Know" to add to this list, please send it to submit@sustainablelafayette.net
The facts listed above were found in various books, articles, and web sites that seemed credible and reliable, and also contributed by members of the network.